When Your Mom is Your Sister

Megan Branstetter talks about feeling connected to her mom and aunt through Sigma Kappa.

You would think growing up in a home with two Greek parents that you would have a huge Greek presence, but that wasn’t the case for me. It wasn’t until the summer before college that I told my mom that I wanted to do formal recruitment. I asked her what sorority she was in, but Greek letters had no meaning to me at the time. She told me that she and her twin (my aunt) were Sigma Kappa’s, so as I filled out the form, I listed them, not thinking much of it. Little did I realize how special it was to be a legacy to a house that these predominant women in my life were in 20 years prior. My aunt was my second mom growing up, and we have only gotten closer over the past two years.

Every morning during recruitment, I would call my mom and tell her that I still had “her” house on my list and she would ask endless questions about what the girls were like and how the house was. When bid day came around and I opened my bid card, it said Sigma Kappa; at the time, the only other person I knew who was a Sigma Kappa was my mom. When initiation came around my mom was invited to come and it didn’t hit me until it arrived that very few other moms would be in attendance. My mom was president of her chapter her senior year, so after initiation she shared memories of initiation when she was in the chapter and how it all came back to her after sitting through mine. It was fun to listen to her stories of what it was like when she was in college and see how it differed, but how our ritual connects us.

After being elected to Vice President of Alumnae Relations, I have had the privilege of connecting someone so special in my life to another important part of my college years, Sigma Kappa. I am lucky enough to have firsthand experience in seeing Sigma Kappa’s outside their collegiate years and in their professional careers, and able to be the liaison to connect them to the chapter. I have been able to use my mom as another resource to turn to and ask for advice since she understands what its like to be on the “other side” of graduation, giving me a better perspective on how to better aid alumnae.

Since both my parents were Mizzou graduates, I grew up coming to house decs and homecoming football games. However, now that I am in college, having my family come and watch Sigma Kappa’s house decks is so special because my mom did the exact same thing during her time at Mizzou. This past year, I was so excited to show off the house and all our sisters to my aunt and mom who were both able to come to mock recruitment. I like to impress them and show them how far we have come along because we are their legacy.

Although I didn’t realize the significance of being the daughter of a Sigma Kappa while growing up, it has had great importance to me since starting college.